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Few rookies can come in and impact a team's offense the way that Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott did in 2016. Even fewer rookies can come in and impact the NFL rulebook the way that Elliott did.

One could easily argue that Elliott's touchdown the Monday night before Christmas, when he plowed into the end zone against the Buccaneers and leapt into a giant Salvation Army bucket, was the tipping point for the NFL changing its rules on celebrations.

The moment, in case you forgot:

There was a ton of controversy surrounding the celebration because a) it was fun but b) it was absolutely worthy of a penalty and a fine. The NFL ultimately decided not to fine Elliott, which was cool because it resulted in him donating money to the Salvation Army and the charity's donations surging like crazy in the following days.

But it also made a bunch of other famous NFL stars mad that they have gotten fined for similarly illegal touchdowns.

Everyone, including Elliott, agreed the rules were "sad" in the first place. Suffice to say, Elliott is pretty excited about the rules being eased for 2017 and thinks that ultimately everyone will see some pretty fun celebrations next year.

"I think it's great. I think it's definitely needed in pro football," Elliott told the Dallas Morning-News. "I think there's going to be some pretty funny celebrations this year."

What there won't be is any dunking of the football, which will still be illegal when the 2017 season kicks off. 

But Elliott is right -- the idea of the NFL allowing players to have fun and be creative with their touchdown celebrations is going to make scoring a hundred times more interesting than it was last year. In 2016 you would see someone catch a touchdown, make some sort of random motion to celebrate, draw a flag and it was just another depressing reminder about a down year in life. Prince and David Bowie passed and meanwhile the NFL is flagging people for scoring a touchdown and shooting a fake jump shot with a football. 

Hopefully 2017 is full of anticipation and excitement when it comes to seeing players score and wondering exactly what they're going to do in the end zone.